The South Face of Aconcagua, with its tumble of icy seracs and snow chutes, has long been attractive to extreme alpinists who need a liberal sprinkling of danger with their climbing. The first team to climb it certainly got that.

In 1950 a French team led by Maurice Herzog made the first ever ascent of an 8000m peak when they climbed 8091m Annapurna, during one of the first mountaineering expeditions to Nepal. It’s possible to view their ascent in one of two ways.

I’ve spent a disproportionate amount of time in the last couple of years blogging bad news from the Himalayas and Karakoram. It’s only fair I help to restore the balance by reporting on a mountaineering story with a happy ending.

The early history of the 8000m peaks has traditionally been seen as a competition between Europeans and Americans to become the first nation to climb one, but the Sherpa contribution should never be forgotten.

The fourteen peaks over 8000 metres have enjoyed a special status throughout the 20th century and were subject to many races to climb them. In the first of a short series of posts about their early history I introduce three memorable characters.

I completed a long-held ambition when I stayed at the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel, at the foot of the Pen-y-Pass on the flanks of Snowdon. Staying for a couple of nights in a hotel may not sound like much of an achievement, but this one is extra special.

I recently wrote about Colonel Jimmy Roberts, the grandfather of trekking. Now I would like to introduce another important figure in the development of tourism in Nepal, a ballet dancer called Boris, whose colourful life reads like a surreal fairy tale.

With a drip feed of FIFA corruption allegations hitting the headlines, I’ve decided to use this week’s blog post to highlight a case of sporting integrity beyond the call of duty, and in doing so salute Italian mountaineers.

Sixty-two years ago to the day Colonel Jimmy Roberts made the first ascent of Mera Peak with the Sherpa Sen Tenzing. This little postscript to the first ascent of Everest in 1953 may have been the birth of commercial trekking.

This is part 5 of a series of posts about early tourism in Nepal. For the previous posts see part 1: How Nepal first came to open its doors to tourism, part 2: Bill Tilman: Nepal’s very first trekking tourist,